Category Archives: Arty Farty

Woody stems lead to primitive flowers with inscribed details. Birds are regal, nearing religiousness and the occasional fish appear in mid glide. These examples are the works of Japanese artist, Makoto Kagoshima. The details are seldom minimal on the plates, bowls, and dishes. His work is primal and cute at the same time, and each piece has the perfect balance between color and negative space which gives each detail it’s own weight. I’m told that the edges are ribbed by the pressing of sea shells which are plentiful in his home area of Fukuoka, Japan.

FILM:A Majority of One (1961)DIRECTOR: Mervyn LeRoyPLOT LOGLINE:An elderly Jewish widow meets a Japanese widower on a steamboat to Japan and the two fall in love despite their differences. But complications arise that puts their relationship to the test.

Leonard Spigelgass adapted his own hit Broadway play for the silver screen with Mister Roberts director Mervyn LeRoy at the helm. The film opens in the small Brooklyn apartment of Bertha Jacoby (Rosalind Russell), a recently widowed Jewish matriarch, who is awaiting a visit from her daughter Alice (Madlyn Rhue) and diplomat son-in-law Jerry (Ray Danton). Keeping Mrs. Jacoby company is her friend and neighbor, Essie Rubin (Mae Questal).

Alice and Jerry arrive, only to immediately get in an argument with Mrs. Rubin when she explains that she is considering moving out of Brooklyn because “that element is moving in” meaning “the colored and Puerto Ricans”. The young couple are shocked by Mrs. Rubin’s casual racism to which she replies, “It’s not a question of prejudice. I just don’t like to live with them.” Read more...

Here and there, on VH1, say, or the web, I’ll come across a “Greatest One Hit Wonders” type show and chuckle along affectionately when the videos to “Safety Dance” or “Walking On Sunshine” or “In My House” are shown – yes, I grew up in the 80′s – but when Devo’s “Whip It” or Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass” or the Go Go’s “We Got The Beat” are included, my eyes bulge, I start to foam at the mouth, capillaries burst, and anyone within earshot is forced to hear me rant about “incompetent list makers,” “musical know-nothings,” “unheralded bodies of fine work,” “short sightedness,” “band wagonneering,” “complete lack of vision,” “underrated genius,” “the cold and vindicating eye of history,” and reams of unprintable vitriol.

And that novel, released earlier this year, is Vermilion by Molly Tanzer. It’s true that the description of the book, which I feel I’ve captured fairly well in my headline above, should’ve been enough to pique my interest in reading Tanzer’s latest, but it was something the author said in an interview that really won me over. Tanzer said she set out to write a novel that took place “in the past of Big Trouble in Little China.”

For those not familiar with it, Big Trouble in Little China is the 1986 John Carpenter cult film starring Kurt Russell and Dennis Dun set in a mythical San Francisco Chinatown filled with magic, monsters and women with green eyes. It’s also a fun and subversive movie that takes a lot of the tropes of martial arts flicks and “Oriental” mysticism and turns them on their head. The idea that Tanzer was writing a story set in that same world—an unofficial prequel of sorts taking place some one hundred years before the events of Carpenter’s film–was intriguing. Read more...

The good folks at Happy Place dug up the obscure gem you will feast your eyes and ears on below: a musical number from the 1985 Tollywood film Adavi Donga. Tollywood refers to a subset of Indian cinema originating in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

I haven’t watched the film myself but the description sounds pretty damn awesome:

When her husband is attacked by the goons, Sharada hides baby Chiranjeevi in a bush and runs away to escape the goons. He was found by an elephant who raises him as his own child in the forest along with other animals. Sharada is shocked when she found out her baby is missing and her husband is wrongly convicted and send to jail much to her dismay.Read more...

Since there was no official Marvel panel at this year’s Comic-Con, guest-alter-ego ThorHulkCritic will provide a wrap-up of this year’s events at Nerd Prom, in the form of a Q & A session at Virtual Hall THC. The back of the line is at, roughly, Escondido.

HULK: HULK HAVE TIME FOR JUST A FEW PUNY QUESTIONS.

Q: Do you still think Comic-Con will save the world?Thor: Comic-Con is still the mightiest event on Midgard, wherein worthy crowds gather to celebrate a shared love with pageantry, retail therapy, and mutual acceptance. The people are pleasant and the San Diego sun reigns o’er all. That said, there is more douchebag behavior there than in years past.

… and just like that, Comic-Con is over. The days blew by and blended together. During the day, we’ve had great crowds come by to check out our gear. Some stopped by to thank me for the hard work on Giant Robot magazine and to say how much they loved it. Our old friends are a year older and the happy hellos that we share spawn into ideas of meeting up outside of Comic-Con. It never happens and the cycle starts again. We see each other one more year later and perhaps that’s the extent of our relationship-I’m on one side of the table and they’re on the other. Read more...

Giant Robot is still at Booth 1729 and the days are already flying by. The toughest part is the set up and Preview Night. The simple booth is actually quite engineered. The poles which hold up the signs is a huge part of the booth. Without it, the booth would be merely a set of tables and us standing behind it. It’s the window dressing to make the booth look whole. The banners, the colors, and the items hanging from it, all lead people’s eyes in.

You’d think that being a vendor at Comic-Con for our 21st year means that it’s easy, but it continues to be difficult. Even though it’s a couple of days away, the preparation began long ago. From renting the booth, a place to stay, parking, extra tables, gathering the items we’re selling, to the “exclusives,” the job is never done. I’ll begin with the latter. Exclusives are one of the most important aspects of a booth. Without them, you’ll turn into a regular shop or booth without anything special to offer and promote. You’ll have goods that can be purchased anywhere and what’s the point of having them at Comic-Con San Diego? Read more...

Giant Robot Day at the Honolulu Museum of Art - Contempo #Artshop took place on saturday and it was an mind and heart filling experience. The Day and Giant Robot pop up is a testament to the excitement and energy that a “zine-turned-magazine-turned-many things” project creates after 21 years.

There are many emotions that came out of this project, most of which has little or nothing to do with art. It’s more about the effort, ideas, and selflessness that went into every aspect of this event. The “help” came from everyone. The smiles and stress-less-ness was infectious. The museum staff including Allison, Aaron, Sheryl, and many more with non-museum staffer Lofa Lightsleepers, and his many compadres gave and gave without asking for much in return. Trying to pay it back is impossible, so I’ll continue to try to pay it forward. Read more...

THE KARATE KID was a big part of my life growing up in the ‘80s. The tale of a new kid in town who is trying to fit in, meets a girl, but then gets beaten up by a bunch of thugs and must find a way to defend himself after he befriends an old groundskeeper from Japan may sound like a pretty generic throwaway film. And if it was in the reigns of lesser hands, it may have. Read more...

The Giant Robot pop up gallery opens! Years and years after beginning this GR ride, I’d never thought that GR could do anything on this scale in Hawaii, but here it is.

I learned that Contempo #Artshop is in its infancy at the Spalding House. In fact, this is it’s inaugural year as an event. It has no regular date as to when it’ll happen again. It’s therefore even a greater honor to be part of this event. As huge as it is for myself, it’s one of many “blips” that the museum will continue to endure. The opening and reception on thursday and friday went without hitches. As any event that’s performed well, I didn’t notice any problems. This means they were perfectly hidden. Read more...